The production process of sponge titanium at home and abroad mainly adopts metallothermic reduction process, and in particular refers to preparing metal M from metal reducing agent (R) and metal oxide or chloride (MX). Titanium metallurgy method in which industrial production has been achieved is magnesiothermic reduction process (Kroll process) and sodiothermic reduction process (Hunter process). Since the Hunter process leads to higher production cost than the Kroll process does, the Kroll process is widely used in industry currently. The main processes of the Kroll process are that magnesium ingot is placed into a reactor, heated and molten after being subjected to oxide films and impurities removal, then titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) is introduced into the reactor, titanium particles generated by the reaction are deposited, and generated liquid magnesium chloride is discharged promptly through a slag hole. The reaction temperature is usually kept at 800° C. to 900° C., the reaction time is between several hours and several days. Residual metallic magnesium and magnesium chloride in end product can be removed by washing with hydrochloric acid, can also be removed by vacuum distillation at 900° C., and keep the purity of titanium high. The Kroll process has the disadvantages of high cost, long production cycle, and polluted environment, limiting further application and popularization. At present, the process has not changed fundamentally, and still belongs to intermittent production, which fails to realize continuous production.
In the equipment for producing sponge titanium, the reactor cover and the reactor need to be sealed with sealing ring, and have high performance requirements for the sealing ring. It is necessary to ensure that the sealing ring is gas-tight under production environments of high temperature and high pressure, but the selection and preparation of the sealing ring are studied less in the current production process, the pressure and temperature to which the current sealing ring is subjected are low, so that the security cannot be guaranteed during running, and the use rate and production efficiency are also influenced.